Name: Penny Dreadful
ISBN: 9780375861994

Laurel Snyder

When her father suddenly quits his job, the almost-ten-year-old, friendless Penny and her neglectful parents leave their privileged life in the city for a ramshackle property in Thrush Junction, Tennessee, where their tenants have never paid rent and the town's shops include Praise God the Lord Hot Dog Shack and Fugate's Feed Shop and Bridal Store.

Penny Dreadful

Sarah Sammis

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder is about Penelope Grey and her parents who go through some major life changing events. As the book opens, Penelope is living in a huge house in the center of The City where she is home schooled and looked after more by the servants than her ever busy parents. While she knows she has a good life, it's not a fulfilling one.

A wish for something exciting to happen coincides with a huge change in her life. It begins with her father, heir to the family business, and source of the family's income, announcing that he's quit his job at the family business. Without his large paycheck and the mother's love of shopping, they quickly run out of money and the house ends up looking like something from Horders.

Another wish changes things again, sending them to the country, to an inherited house being shared by numerous eccentric families. The move to the house is where the book picks up. Penelope makes friends and blossoms.

Penny Dreadful highlights the problems families can have and the importance of open dialogs between parents and children. Penny's parents want to protect her as they try to cope with their problems. Unfortunately this just makes things more stressful for Penny and everyone else. Penny, too, with her new friends, might even have the solution to her parents' problems.

The life at the new house isn't all about the financial woes. There are new friends and new adventures, including a treasure hunt in a cave. I liked getting to explore with Penny as she adjusts to her new home.

I found the book a quick and compelling read.